Florida's PACE program for roofing.
One way to pay for a roof over years. You pay it back on your property tax bill, not in monthly loan payments. The charge becomes a lien on your house.
CCC1335204Reviews
5.0Serving
Palm Beach CountyRoofing since
2015
What PACE is.
PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy. In Florida it is a government-authorized program, not a bank product. Your city or county joins a PACE district. A program administrator pays for approved work on your house. You pay it back through a charge on your yearly tax bill. Florida put wind resistance on the approved list, next to energy savings. That is what puts a roof on the list at all.
The big difference from a normal loan is what gets checked. A lender opens your credit file. A PACE administrator opens the property record. It looks at the value of the house and the equity behind it. It also checks whether the bills against it get paid on time. Approval is the administrator's call, not ours.
How the money moves.
None of this works like a monthly loan.
The assessment
A line on your property tax bill
The cost is added to your yearly property tax bill. It is a flat charge, not one based on your home value. The paperwork calls that a non-ad-valorem assessment. Your county tax collector bills it with the rest of your taxes. There is no separate lender to pay each month.
The schedule
Once a year, not every month
You pay once a year, with the tax bill. Many mortgage companies collect your taxes in escrow. If yours does, your escrow payment goes up to cover this. Call them before the first bill lands.
The security
Attached to the house, not to your name
The debt stays with the house, not with you. That is why the program can look at the house instead of your credit file. It is also the reason for every warning below.
The terms
Set by the program, not by us
The program sets the length and the rate, not us. You get those in writing, with your name on it, before you sign. We will sit down and read it with you. We cannot change it.
The contractor
Has to be registered with the program
PACE work has to be done by a contractor the program has registered. Luxe is one of them. We handle the roofing paperwork for the program.
What qualifies, and what gets checked.
Two kinds of work qualify in Florida. One is work that makes a building tougher against wind. The other is work that cuts its energy use. A new roof gets reviewed under the wind side. Impact-rated windows and doors are on that list too. Many owners do them at the same time as the roof.
The property side is where most owners get their real answer. Your house must sit in a PACE district. Your city or county has to have joined one. Your taxes and any charges already on the bill need to be current. The mortgage generally needs to be current too. You need equity behind the work, because the house is what secures it. None of that is ours to decide. The administrator runs it on your property and answers.
The roof is the part we control. Design wind speeds along this coast are among the highest in the country. A replacement here is engineered to the wind-uplift standard in the code. That standard is set for coastal Palm Beach County. We use systems carrying Miami-Dade product approvals where the spec asks for them. The engineering submittals and the final wind-uplift certification run through us. That holds no matter how the roof gets paid for.
PACE next to a conventional roof loan.
Neither one is right for every owner. These are the differences that usually decide it.
| What is being compared | Florida PACE | Credit-based lending |
|---|---|---|
| What gets reviewed | The house, the equity in it, and its tax record | Your credit file and your income |
| Where the payment lands | Once a year, on the property tax bill | Every month, to the lender |
| What secures it | A charge on the house, ranked the same as your property taxes | Usually just your signature. Most roofing loans put nothing against the house |
| If you sell | Paid off at closing, or taken over by the buyer if everyone agrees | Paid off at closing, out of the sale money |
| If you refinance | Most lenders want it paid off before they write the new loan | A normal payoff, handled at closing |
| Who sets the terms | The PACE administrator, under the program's rules | The lender, from its own rate sheet |
What to watch out for.
PACE works well for some owners and badly for others. These five points usually decide which.
It is a lien
The charge stays with the house
A PACE charge attaches to your house. It ranks with your property taxes, ahead of your mortgage. That is why the program can check the house instead of your credit score. It is also why mortgage lenders care about it.
Selling the house
The balance comes due at closing
You pay off what is left out of the sale money. Or the buyer takes it over. That needs the buyer, their lender, and the title company to agree. Most Florida sales end in a payoff, so plan for that.
Your mortgage lender
Some say no, in writing
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the two companies that buy most American mortgages. Neither will buy a loan that sits behind a first-lien PACE assessment. So a refinance later can stall until you clear the balance. Plenty of mortgage contracts also bar a lien that outranks the mortgage. Read yours. Call your mortgage company before you sign a PACE agreement.
The total, not the payment
PACE is not automatically the cheaper route
A once-a-year bill can make a bigger lifetime total feel small. Ask the administrator what you repay over the whole term. Put that number next to a regular loan quote for the same roof. PACE wins for some owners and loses for others. We will tell you when it loses.
Get your own advice
Not legal or tax advice
We are roofers. We can explain how the program works in Florida. That is not legal or tax advice about your situation. Before you sign, read it with your own lawyer or financial adviser.
Why no monthly figure appears here.
Roofing ads in Florida run on fixed monthly numbers. PACE gets advertised that way all the time. That is not how the program works. A PACE charge is repaid once a year, through the property tax bill. There is no monthly payment to quote.
Any rate or payment we printed here would be a guess. The administrator has not seen your house yet, and neither have we. Real numbers come from your written quote. They also come from the program's own documents. Both carry your name.
What we can put in writing is the roof. What drives the price is on the cost page. The other ways owners pay are on the financing page. The work itself is laid out under roof replacement. We are rated 5.0 stars.
PACE questions we get asked.
- Does a roof replacement qualify for PACE in Florida?
Usually, yes, under the wind side of the program. Florida PACE pays for work that makes a building tougher against wind. It also pays for work that cuts energy use. A new roof falls in the wind group. That is why PACE funds roofing so often in this state.
Your property has to qualify too. It must sit in a city or county that joined a PACE district. Your taxes and mortgage need to be current. You need enough equity in the house. The administrator makes that call on your property.
- Is there a credit check for PACE?
The program is built to work off the house, not off a credit score. It looks at the equity in the house. It also checks whether the bills against it get paid on time.
That is how the program is designed. It is not a promise that your property gets approved. No roofer can make that promise for an administrator.
- How does the money get paid back?
Through your yearly property tax bill. The county tax collector charges it with the rest of your taxes.
If your mortgage company collects your taxes in escrow, that payment goes up. Tell them before the first bill arrives.
- What happens to the assessment if I sell?
It gets handled at closing. You can pay the balance out of the sale money. The buyer can also take it over. That route needs the buyer, their lender, and the title company to agree.
Paying it off is the common outcome in Florida. Read the agreement expecting that.
- Is PACE cheaper than a conventional roof loan?
Not always. The honest answer needs both numbers side by side. Compare what you repay over the full term. Put that against a regular loan quote for the same roof. A once-a-year bill can hide a higher lifetime cost.
We will go through that with you before you pick either one.